My visitors today

Tuesday, 2 March 2010

Looking at things from a different point of view

In his posting on 24th February Andrew Sutton hoped to open up a discussion when he listed the following points that he had discovered somewhere presumably somewhere in cyberspace.

One conductor leads the class through a series of repetitive excercises

Use of special equipment (ladders, chairs, plinths, tabletops) to create the prescribed environment

Activities include teaching life skills and age appropriate academic and social lessons (i.e. potty training, snack time, music)

Classes are typically grouped by children's age and ability

Clearing up some common misunder-standings

Yes, one conductor may lead a group at a given time. Sometimes the conductor is alone in a group with four or maybe ten clients, then the one conductor must lead the whole session. The conductor could be there with two or three colleagues then one of the others will take over the leading when planned and sometimes when not planned.

There is never a series of repetitive exercises. There is a series of movements devised for each group, with individual solutions for each client. The movements included in a programme are those needed for learning specific skills. This cannot be" repetitive", it must continuously change as the clients become more and more skilful.

Most people know my views on furniture: it isn’t the do-all-and-end-all of “Petö”. Conductive Education is just that, an education. It is not reliant on furniture to be successful. How the use of such furniture creates a good environment I have no idea, unless it is when the plinths get used as an easel, or get thrown on the bonfire. The atmosphere in a group has to do with people, personalities and souls.

An atmosphere is not prescribed for a group, it develops. The aim is to create a desire to work, though fun, enjoyment, motivation and activities. And not one piece of furniture is needed to achieve that!

Activities in Conductive groups include all sort of things, Conductive Education is to do with learning to live a full life, so we do everything that anyone else would do to achieve this. If that means rolling, we roll. If it means baking, we bake. We also sing, climb, stick, sew, paint, read, crawl, act, dress up, drum, play hospitals and schools. We pretend to dive and swim, or we really dive and swim, we ski, ride bikes, hop, skip and jump. Why do we do all of these things? They are the "skills" that we need to live.

These activities are provided in the appropriate situations to encourage learning something very specific, or even just for fun using skills already learnt! We learn skills to become as independent as possible and as active as possible in lie.

Age-appropriate? I don’t think so. Whatever the age of clients, eight or eighty, if they want to learn something, and are motivated to learn something that they haven’t already achieved, then it is taught regardless of it being “age-appropriate” or not. If a client of thirty-five wishes to learn to dress alone than we find out how we can help. If a child of three can learn this then we help here too. All of the movements used to dress are used in other activities, so we are not only teaching someone to dress it is the motivation to learn that is important and one movement and motivation leads on to another. We don’t teach people to eat a biscuit or clean their teeth. We motivate them to want to do it alone, then we teach them how.

"Classes are grouped by age and ability". This is a bit contradictory isn’t it? A Kindergarten group will have children in it aged from under three years old to seven. Just like all Kindergartens these children will not be able to do the same as each other, or even the same as others of the same age. They all learn from each other and they all teach each other, that’s how groups work.They are not all put in a group because they are all five or because they can all sit on the toilet alone! The learning that takes place depends on the child’s needs at the time.

In an adult stroke group ages can range from thirty to eighty, their abilities likewise have just as wide a range.

Maybe no one else thinks it important to respond to such things. But if people who know better hold their tongues, for whatever reason, then whose fault is it that we still hear suck poppycock, and worse, about the job that we love?

CONTACT ME FOR CONDUCTIVE SERVICES IN GERMANY OR THE UK, OR OVER THE INTERNET

Conductive pedagogy and upbringing with children, teenagers and adults, consultations, lectures and presentations

I am now open to further bookings of all kinds over the coming months.

A small deposit will secure.

Public presentations on adult work a speciality!

CE OVER THE INTERNET NEW PROJECT

"Doing a Dina"

I am currently looking for families of young children anywhere in the world to take part in preliminary work to explore the possibilities of working conductively over the Internet through Skype, audio and/or webcam. This can be done in German, in English or in Hungarian, as required.

This is "exploratory work" of a kind not done before in Conductive Education, so fees at this point will be very reasonable indeed.

Interested families should contact me to discuss possibilities further, in the language of their choice and without obligation, at

If you don't already have a copy of Dina (and in my opinion every parent with a child under three with cerebral palsy should have read this) this is the only book to describe how to bring up a young child with cerebral palsy "conductively", you can get one by contacting me or the Library at the National Institute for Conductive Education:

TRANSLATE FROM HUNGARIAN

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About Me

I am Susie Mallett, conductor. I was born, raised and first educated in England (degree in fine arts in 1979, qualifications as a secondary-school art teacher and art therapist in 1983. From 1989 to 1993 I trained as a conductor at the Pető Institute in Budapest under Dr Mária Hári, since when I have lived and worked in Germany as a self-employed conductor.. I currently work with children in a conductive team in Nürnberg, and with adults in collaboration with therapists in adult rehabilitation. I particularly like to work with my stroke clients and with children and their families in their own homes. My conductive practice is in German and English.
I also speak Hungarian. My theoretical background relates closely to that of András Pető and Mária Hári. Uniquely amongst conductors I describe my work on the Internet. I am available to give public talks and private consultations.
Welcome to my site. I hope that you find much to interest you. You will also find some good things to see and listen to while you are here. Enjoy your visit and contact me if you think that I can help.
Susie Mallett, Conductor, BA Hons, PGCE, Dip ArtTherapy, DiplKondPed